This poster claiming to show Deputy President William Ruto’s seven-point bottom-up economic approach blueprint is FAKE.

The poster promises to make the lives of ordinary Kenyans easier by regulating property prices, introducing free public transport, land reforms and redistribution.

Land reforms, according to the poster, will be achieved by ensuring no citizen or entity owns more than 10 acres of land. The reforms will also include the introduction of a social welfare programme that will give Ksh 20,000 per month to single mothers, widows, and unemployed youth.

There are also promises to cover all church expenses such as construction, utility bills, and salaries. The seven-point blueprint adds that DP Ruto will provide free internet across the country and also review macro-economic policies.

Also dubbed as the “Wanjiku Economy”, the poster has the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Party logo, DP Ruto’s photo and the party’s corporate colours of green and yellow.

A Bible verse from Matthew 6:33 is included in the poster which states: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.

PesaCheck contacted the UDA Party Director of Communications, Wanjohi Githae, who said that the poster is “fake”.

“It’s fake. As we move towards elections and UDA gets more traction with voters, we expect more such fake posters. Treat it with the contempt it deserves,” Githae told PesaCheck.

​​DP Ruto’s presidential campaign digital strategist, Dennis Itumbi, has also flagged the poster as fake.

In a message posted on his Twitter account and Facebook page, Itumbi blamed the Kieleweke group (a political faction associated with President Uhuru Kenyatta) for spreading propaganda using the fake poster.

Itumbi pointed out that the creators of the poster got several things wrong, among them the spelling of the Bible book “Matthew” and the shade of yellow used in the poster.

“To Kieleweke DARKROOM of lies, at least start by spelling MATTHEW right! Then get @UDAKenya colours RIGHT. On the YELLOW get the right PALETTE. That will improve your Propaganda. Msijiangushe! Just helping you tell better lies. Even LIES require a little RESEARCH,” Itumbi posted on his social media accounts on 29 July 2021.

PesaCheck has looked into a poster claiming to show Deputy President William Ruto’s seven-point bottom-up economic approach blueprint and finds it to be FAKE.

This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.

By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.

Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.

This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Naomi Wanjiku and edited by PesaCheck Chief Copy Editor Rose Lukalo. The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck Managing Editor Enock Nyariki.

PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water / sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.

PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.